RoboCop 3 review

Since I have been recently referring to this movie so often, I figured that I might as well review the movie itself! This should also help those who have not seen the movie but who see me talking about “Rehabs” etc. all the time and wonder what I am talking about. I also feel that over the last month or so I have already said all that I can say on the issue of resisting deportation. I honestly don’t know what else needs to be said, except that RoboCop 3 has most of it covered.

RoboCop 3 is widely considered to be a bad movie by RoboCop fans, and on many levels I agree. Murphy is no longer played by Peter Weller; most of the action scenes - especially those involving Murphy himself – are downright silly; there are obvious storyline inconsistencies in relation to the first two RoboCop movies; there are countless unnecessary plot elements that would have been better off removed; and so on. At the very least it could certainly have been made much better than it was. But from a political perspective I have always liked it. Therefore, for the purposes of this review, I will completely ignore the bad stuff, and focus only on the themes that I consider to be both important and well-expressed. Like the entire series, it is set in what in the 1990s was considered to be the near future in terms of technology (in fact its videophones are less advanced than present-day smartphones), using a dystopian Detroit as a microcosm of society. Of course, back when I first saw the movie in the 90s I never expected to see the villains become real in the very country which produced the movie (back in those days I wasn’t even aware how bad it really was for the Palestinians at the hands of Israel). Even in my previous blog post referencing the movie, I was talking about France, not the US:

ICE agents are now targeting places that used to be respected as sanctuaries of sorts, and have dropped guidelines urging a focus only on serious criminals.

The result: all undocumented migrants can be equally targeted.

One recent high-profile detention was of ‘Dreamer’ Daniela Vargas, 22, who was born in Argentina and came to the United States as a child.

When ICE agents came to her home to arrest her father and brother, both undocumented migrants, Vargas escaped by hiding in a closet.

The agents however got a second chance on Wednesday after Vargas spoke out against deportations at a press conference in Jackson, in the southern state of Mississippi.

“Disturbing that ICE may have followed her from an immigration news conference,” wrote Democratic Senator Ricard Durbin on Twitter,

…

According to Vargas’s attorneys, ICE agents plan to deport her without a hearing with an immigration judge.

“ICE has no shame,” said Yatziri Tovar, another ‘Dreamer’ who works for the pro-immigrant NGO Make the Road New York.

“This rogue agency has now detained another Dreamer … apparently, for exercising her First Amendment rights,” she said, a reference to the right under the US Constitution to freedom of expression.

…

Emboldened by Trump’s decree — which authorizes immigration agents to deport even undocumented people suspected of crimes they have not been charged with – authorities recently detained people seeking shelter on a cold winter day at a church in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside the US capital.

Also taken into custody for deportation: a woman who went to court in El Paso, Texas to file a complaint about domestic abuse.

In another recent case agents boarded an domestic flight that landed at New York’s JFK airport and checked every passenger’s identification documents.

…

Also arrested in recent weeks was Mexico-born Daniel Ramirez Medina, a 23 year-old ‘Dreamer’ living in Seattle, in the northwestern state of Washington.

ICE agents detained Ramirez, who came to the United States at the age of seven, even though his DACA authorization was still valid.

Immigration agents swept into his home to pick up his father, and claimed that Ramirez confessed to belonging to a gang.

Ramirez, who has no criminal background, denies the charges.

So rewatching the movie once again in 2017, knowing that the villains have already become real, my hope is that the heroes can become real too.

[SPOILER WARNING]

The movie opens with a revoltingly unctuous campaign ad: “Imagine: an end of crime, an end of poverty. Imagine two million good jobs waiting to be filled. Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? Well, sometimes dreams come true. Delta City. For our children.”

Basically MAGA. Note the combination of futuristic architecture with the 50s-style patriarchal family – the rightist fantasy of archeofuturism.

This is followed by the news describing the existing Detroit as a “warzone” (where have we heard this before?!), with footage of overworked police officers dealing with stereotypical thugs.

Police vs “bad hombres” as Trump would call them…..

And then the solution is proudly presented: “As usual, OCP has an answer. Meet the Rehabs.”

Basically ICE. The ridiculous muscle-mold body armour worn by the agents is a clever poke at the rightist worship of masculinity.

Head villain Paul McDaggett says: “We’re here to help the people, to augment the police force and deal with the gang problem.” (Where have we heard this before?!) The news reporter asks: “What about reports you’re actually ousting people from their homes to make way for construction of Delta City?” (Note how McDaggett refers to “the people” whereas the reporter refers to ”people” – vast conceptual difference.) Then McDaggett calmly appeals to legality as justification: “I won’t deny we’re serving an eviction notice or two. … We’re cops, nothing more.” (We see rightists today doing this all the time, claiming that there is nothing wrong with deporting people so long as they are “illegal”, ignoring that who is “illegal” in a democracy is determined ultimately by majority rule - indeed these same rightists push for the passing of laws to make “illegal” more and more formerly “legal” people whom the majority dislikes. So saying someone is “illegal” in a democracy really means nothing more than saying someone is unpopular. And citing someone’s unpopularity as sufficient reason to treat them unfairly is the definition of bullying.)

Watching the TV as all this is going on is hacking whiz-kid and RoboCop fangirl Nikko, who clearly sees through McDaggett’s shameless bullshitting.

Nikko’s Original Nobility facial expression contrasts with those of the slave children in the Delta City ad.

Nikko’s parents (depicted as an interethnic couple to contrast with the monoethnic family in the Delta City ad; you can also see hippie-style cushions etc. on the sofa), however, predictably respond by telling her to stop watching TV and go to bed! She reluctantly obeys, but later in her room (which also has a poster of a cactus landscape to contrast with the gentrified greenery in the Delta City ad) asks her father about what she heard earlier, whereupon her father doubles down on teaching her to stick her head into the sand: “Don’t listen to what the TV said. This is your home, you hear me? You’re safe here.” This is when the Rehabs’ wrecking ball smashes into Nikko’s room…..

Message to leftists: you cannot fight rightists by pretending they do not exist.

Nikko’s parents along with many locals of Cadillac Heights are hauled onto a bus by the brutal Rehabs. (Nikko’s parents are not seen again; it is later revealed that they were killed by the Rehabs off-camera, “killed during escape from relocation” according to the database which classifies them as “suspected rebel sympathizers“ ie. guilty until proven innocent, as I have been pointing out is becoming increasingly common in real-life.) Fortunately, other locals led by Bertha resist the Rehabs: “Stay here! Fight for your homes!” This is what I have been trying to tell real-life ICE victims for the last month! Nikko is picked up by Bertha and hidden inside a refugee van which the very same night proceeds to break into a police armoury in order to acquire the additional firepower needed to defend Cadillac Heights from the Rehabs. (Police weapons were bought using local taxes in the first place, so if the police are not going to use these weapons to protect locals against the Rehabs, the locals have a positive duty to use these weapons themselves!) A refreshing frankness towards the necessity for retaliatory violence is one of my favourite things about the RoboCop trilogy as a whole, distinguishing it from stories which express sympathy for left-leaning views but promote the dangerously wrong notion that these views can triumph through purely pacifistic means.

Message to leftists: this is the correct way to fight rightists.

Alex Murphy is dispatched to pursue the refugee van following the weapon heist, but after Ann Lewis’ police car (also in pursuit of the van) overturns during the chase, Murphy chooses to go the aid of his partner and other colleagues against a Splatterpunk attack despite orders that he continue pursuit. Thus the van escapes.

The Splatterpunks are basically the Alt-Right who have been bullying people non-stop ever since Trump got elected: a notoriously cruel, sadistic gang that the Rehabs yet have not the slightest interest in ridding Detroit of, showing the dishonesty of their claim of wanting to ”deal with the gang problem”, much as Trump has officially redefined ”violent extremism” to exclude racist groups despite the US’s long history of racism.

OCP dislikes Murphy’s personality and orders Marie Lazarus to implant a chip to erase his “emotional baggage” (similar to how rightists always complain about leftists making decisions based on feelings). Lazarus of course does not do so; instead she studies Murphy’s memory videos (which includes shots of Nikko outside a sanctuary church, with the camera lingering on the crucifix above the door) and becomes sympathetic towards Cadillac Heights herself. This reflects what I have been saying about how there is room for individuals in almost any position within society to sabotage Trump in their own capacity, and it only takes a few such saboteurs linking up for the effect to start multiplying. (Sgt. Reed, who will later switch sides, is for now still repeating the OCP narrative: “Do not let the fact that these people are homeless sway you. They’re terrorists, pure and simple.” (Where have we heard this before?!))

1) Take traditionalism. 2) Take hammer. 3) Follow your conscience. (Notice Lazarus’ trademark rolled-up sleeves; she does this with every outfit she wears. This is my favourite costume design element in the movie, a small detail that greatly enhances Lazarus’ personality.)

Off-duty, Murphy and Lewis visit the sanctuary church, but McDaggett and a large force of Rehabs coincidentally arrive at the same time to raid it, leading to confrontation as Murphy and Lewis oppose the raid for what McDaggett calls “squatters” who “belong in the nearest rehabilitation centre”, some of whom are moreover “armed terrorists” (where have we heard all this before?!). This leads to Lewis being fatally shot by McDaggett, and Murphy physically obstructed from retaliation by his OCP-inbuilt Directive Four (“NEVER OPPOSE AN OCP OFFICER”), thus also sustaining debilitating injuries. Fortunately the refugees themselves open fire on the Rehabs and rescue Murphy, who promises Lewis before she dies on the church altar that he will avenge her. I really like the portrayal of Christianity here: it is pro-sanctuary (unlike today’s conservative churches), but praises vengeance (unlike today’s liberal churches), which is exactly how Christianity should be.

A church is only a sanctuary for refugees when the people inside are willing to use firearms to make it so.

Murphy: “Officer down.” Lewis died as an officer of Jesus.

McDaggett lies to the media that Lewis, a “fine, fine public servant”, was supporting the Rehabs during the raid and that Murphy killed her for doing so, which yet manages in a twisted way to fit with the fact that Murphy has joined Cadillac Heights. OCP now places the blame on Lazarus for not implanting the chip into Murphy earlier. Nikko finds her at the police station where she is packing after being fired, and takes her to the refugee camp to repair Murphy. Lazarus takes the opportunity to delete Directive Four, thus enabling Murphy to directly fight OCP henceforth.

My favourite shot in the entire movie. A screencap does not do it justice; you have to see the moving shot (about 45 seconds long, with a warm BGM) for the full effect. Yes, that’s Nikko on the bottom left.

Murphy goes after McDaggett with the implicit approval of Reed (who obviously does not believe that Murphy killed Lewis and who has become increasingly anti-Rehab), but McDaggett raids the refugee camp with the help of a traitor, killing Bertha and capturing Lazarus, though Nikko escapes. Following this, McDaggett prepares to take over the remainder of Cadillac Heights and demands support from the police, which Reed refuses in the dialogue which I previously posted in a comment:

McDaggett: Sergeant. We’re taking Cadillac Heights. I’ll need fifty of your men armed and in full body armor in one hour. Mr. Johnson, you can tell the C.E.O. the demolition crews will have total access at 0600 hours tomorrow morning.
Sergeant Warren Reed: Hey, we don’t do that kind of work.
McDaggett: That was a direct order, sergeant.
Sergeant Warren Reed: Driving people out of their homes is no work for a cop.
Johnson: Now, sergeant… fifteen years on the force is quite an investment. Your job, your pension… Maybe instead of worrying about these squatter people, you might think about your OWN family.[Where have we heard this before?!]
Sergeant Warren Reed: I am.
[Takes off his badge and throws it on the floor]
Sergeant Warren Reed: I’m thinking I have to go home and face them.

McDaggett counters by recruiting the Splatterpunks as additional Rehabs in order to achieve the numbers required to take Cadillac Heights. Unlike the police officers, the Splatterpunks are outright enthusiastic about joining up, reflecting the type of people attracted to this kind of “law enforcement”. (Where have we seen this before?!)

Police officers worthy of their occupation would rather quit than victimize the innocent.

For the Alt-Right, in contrast, it’s about getting to wear that alpha male muscle-mold stab-proof body armour. Those who don’t wear it are all cucks, don’t you know? (Someone should paste Pepe the Frog’s head over the Splatterpunk’s head just to make the point clear.)

Reed and the rest of the Detroit police, meanwhile, join the Cadillac Heights defence and officially deputize the civilians to fight the Rehabs. This is what needs to happen in real-life neighbourhoods currently being raided by ICE. At the very minimum they need to promise locals that ICE agent deaths in a local neighbourhood will not be investigated by local police.

Coolest line in the movie goes to Sgt. Reed: “It’s time to show how real cops kick ass!”

#FightICEwithfire

As the climactic battle rages, Nikko hacks into an OCP transmission satellite, allowing the captured Lazarus to speak in an illegal broadcast exposing OCP’s agenda: “… Time is running out. OCP is the enemy. For God’s sake help us. Innocent people are dying.” This leads to chaos within OCP as its stock value plummets. A story that began with Nikko’s father telling Nikko to ignore McDaggett on TV ends with Nikko managing to put Lazarus on TV. A war that began with a wrecking ball into Nikko’s room ends with the OCP tower exploding. Poetic justice has been achieved, but only because enough people were willing to fight for it. Remove any one of the main heroes from the war, and OCP would have won. God does not punish evil except when we are first willing to punish evil ourselves for the sake of God. And yes, punishing evil often costs heroic lives. Lewis died. Bertha died. Many others on the good guys’ side died along the way to the ending. (Which is not to say that not fighting back keeps you safe; Nikko’s parents died too.) Those who would punish evil must first be psychologically convinced that the objective is worth the cost. If not enough people are convinced, the insufficient few who are convinced - generally those of highest quality - end up as martyrs for nothing. This is something we have a duty not to allow, any more than Murphy could allow Lewis to have died in vain, or for that matter any more than a Christian could allow Jesus to have died in vain. This is what it means to do something for the sake of God. This is what I consider to be the most important message of the movie.

25 Responses to RoboCop 3 review

I actually never saw the movie, so I’m going to download it so I can get the message you’re communicating more clearly. I also wrote a few emails to you, late replies from things you wrote to me ages ago.

I have not received any emails from you recently. (I have received emails from other people, so it doesn’t seem to be a problem with my account.) If you have sent them, either try sending them again, or try sending to the contact form address and see what happens, or just post it here if you prefer.

I appreciate the movie review, great analysis. On another topic, I’m noticing more Californians speaking on how the union no-longer benefits California, and is actually a detriment to the state. Hawaiian independence is also coming up in conversation more frequently. I find this shift in thought very interesting.

The important role given to Nikko, while disliked by some RoboCop fans, is an example of a 90s action movie trend of children in heroic roles (another example would be John Connor in Terminator 2 (1991)). This trend seems to have declined since then, unfortunately. I remember seeing Ultraviolet (2006) and being surprised by how passive Six was as a character. Even Newt in Aliens (1986) was more active!

“On another topic, I’m noticing more Californians speaking on how the union no-longer benefits California, and is actually a detriment to the state. Hawaiian independence is also coming up in conversation more frequently.”

We support Hawaiian but not Californian secession. California’s electoral votes are too important for now. At stake is one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world. Californians need to think of the union in this context instead of thinking just about what benefits California.

The American Civil Liberties Union is launching an ambitious plan to create a swath of “freedom cities” capable of resisting Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

The civil rights organization, which has emerged as one of the Trump administration’s major foes, plans to leverage individual cities’ local authority to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.

Still needs firearms, though. When it comes to crunch time, the only real local authority is local firepower. This is what the Cadillac Heights resistance was supposed to teach Americans.

This review changed my opinion of the film. I normally approach Frank Miller with caution as he’s quite the Western traditionalist, though this film is from a while back, well before 9/11, so Miller might not yet have jumped on the bandwagon that he seems to be on now.

I recently reviewed the 1998 film “Soldier” on my blog. There’s a similar theme in that movie of the “leftist warrior.” Also, McDagget in “Robocop 3″ looks very similar to the Mekum, the villain in “Soldier.”

“I normally approach Frank Miller with caution as he’s quite the Western traditionalist, though this film is from a while back, well before 9/11, so Miller might not yet have jumped on the bandwagon that he seems to be on now.”

In RoboCop 3 OCP was backed by Kanemitsu Corporation (Japan), and McDaggett had a British accent, whereas Cadillac Heights was purely American, so RoboCop 3 can be considered pro-American propganda. The problem is many people today still don’t understand that being pro-American is a very different thing from being pro-Western (and Trump’s “MAGA” campaign slogan just worsened the confusion – we all know Trump’s real objectives are MAWA and MWCGA, yet Trump critics were being labelled by Trump supporters as “anti-American”). But with Trump’s ties to Russia, more and more US leftists are now starting to accuse Trump of wanting to turn the US into a vassal state of Russia. Thus for the first time since the end of the Cold War, US leftists can now present themselves as pro-American, and present US rightists (who worship Russia) as anti-American, which is what we want. Now all that needs to happen is to get people speaking of Russia as part of Western civilization, and we will have people pretty much using our vocabulary.

A US congressman and environmental group have filed the first lawsuit targeting Donald Trump’s plan to build a 30ft wall on the US-Mexico border.

The suit, brought by Congressman Raúl M Grijalva of Arizona and the Center for Biological Diversity in the US district court for Arizona, seeks to require the government to undertake a comprehensive environmental impact analysis before beginning construction.

Such a review would probably take several years to complete, delaying indefinitely the fulfillment of one of Trump’s signature campaign promises.

“It will take a significant amount of time to thoroughly analyze [the impacts of the wall], and that’s the point,” said Randy Serraglio, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity.

At least it would buy us time before the damage begins, but during this time Trump must be removed from power in order for this move to be consequential.

Speaking of which, why haven’t impeachment proceedings started yet? Don’t they already have more than enough dirt on him? What’s Trump going to do now: call it “fake dirt”?

A bit off topic, but what is absolutely sickening to me as of late is how some in the “truth movement” state how Trump dropped missiles on Syria, and the “Mother of all bombs” on Afghanistan to prove that he is not a puppet of Russia. Completely negating the fact that he most likely killed innocent people to prove a point, if this was indeed the case. Yet, when Obama wanted to go into Syria they all screamed how it was on Israels behalf. The double think is mind boggling! Tribalism…

You probably know by now AS I absolutely can’t stand Mark Glenn of the ‘The Ugly Truth’ website, and I should state that he is one of the people above mentioned. Did I also mention he is a hunter, and takes pride in it?

Perhaps we should start a ‘useful idiot’ list as well? I nominate Mark Glenn…

“some in the “truth movement” state how Trump dropped missiles on Syria, and the “Mother of all bombs” on Afghanistan to prove that he is not a puppet of Russia”

This makes no sense in the first place. Russia had FOREKNOWLEDGE of the Syria strike, and the military means to intercept the strike, but did not.

The Russians – whose anti-aircraft defense could easily counter such an attack – were warned in advance.
…
This attack paradoxically benefits Russia that – beyond the perfunctory protests – has an interest in Trump saving face and above all seizing power at last. Putin can allow Trump to spread the illusion that America has kept a foothold in the doorway to Syria.

The shelf life of a Tomahawk missile is limited and it is more economical to deploy than destroy them. By firing fifty of them, Trump flexed his muscles without taking any risks. Nevertheless, Putin’s authorization for this strike will not be without some counterpart. Probably that will happen where we least expect it: in Ukraine.

“Completely negating the fact that he most likely killed innocent people to prove a point, if this was indeed the case.”

Also showing that Putin doesn’t really care about Syrians either, or else he would have intercepted the strike.

“You probably know by now AS I absolutely can’t stand Mark Glenn”

You are welcome to trash him as much as you want to. You could do this on the True Left site.

“Perhaps we should start a ‘useful idiot’ list as well? I nominate Mark Glenn…”

Do it on the True Left site!

Anyway, there’s not much we can do to directly help Syria right now. (Or North Korea, for that matter…..) All we can do is help shift US demographics so that someone like Trump can never be elected again:

When rightists argue to restrict immigration, they are demonstrating that they are on the same side as the tyrants we fought to achieve independence from. They can’t get much more anti-American than that.

—

On the subject of treating individuals as individuals rather than stereotyping them by ethnic group, here are some thoughts by Benjamin Franklin:

“These Indians were the remains of a tribe of the Six Nations, settled at Conestogoe, and thence called Conestogoe Indians. On the first arrival of the English in Pennsylvania, messengers from this tribe came to welcome them… This treaty has been since frequently renewed, and the chain brightened, as they express it, from time to time. It has never been violated, on their part or ours, till now.
…
On Wednesday, the 14th of December, 1763, Fifty-seven men, from some of our frontier townships, who had projected the destruction of this little Commonwealth [Conestoga], came, all well-mounted, and armed with firelocks, hangers and hatchets, having traveled through the country in the night, to Conestogoe Manor. There they surrounded the small village of Indian huts, and just at break of day broke into them all at once. …These poor defenceless creatures were immediately fired upon, stabbed and hatcheted to death!
…
The barbarous men who committed the atrocious act, in defiance of government, of all laws human and divine, and to the eternal disgrace of their country and colour, then mounted their horses, huzza’d in triumph, as if they had gained a victory, and rode off–unmolested!

The bodies of the murdered were then brought out and exposed in the street, till a hole could be made in the Earth, to receive and cover them.

But the wickedness cannot be covered, the guilt will lie on the whole Land, till justice is done on the murderers. THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT WILL CRY TO HEAVEN FOR VENGEANCE.”

“There are some (I am ashamed to hear it) who would extenuate the enormous wickedness of these actions, by saying, “The inhabitants of the frontiers are exasperated with the murder of their relations, by the enemy Indians, in the present war.” It is possible;–but though this might justify their going out into the woods, to seek out those enemies, and avenge upon them those murders; it can never justify their turning into the heart of the country, to murder their friends.

If an Indian injures me, does it follow that I may revenge that injury on all Indians? It is well known that Indians are of different tribes, nations and languages, as well as the white people. In Europe, if the French, who are white people, should injure the Dutch, are they to revenge it on the English, because they too are white people? The only crime of these poor wretches seems to have been, that they had a reddish brown skin, and black hair; and some people of that sort, it seems, had murdered some of our relations. If it be right to kill men for such a reason, then, should any man, with a freckled face and red hair, kill a wife or child of mine, it would be right for me to revenge it, by killing all the freckled red-haired men, women, and children, I could afterwards any where meet with.”

“Do we come to America to learn and practice the manners of barbarians? But this, barbarians as they are, they practice against their enemies only, not against their friends.

These poor people have been always our friends. Their fathers received ours, when strangers here, with kindness and hospitality. Behold the return we have made them! When we grew more numerous and powerful, they put themselves under our protection. See, in the mangled corpses of the last remains of the tribe, how effectually we have afforded it to them!

Unhappy people! to have lived in such times, and by such neighbours!–We have seen, that they would have been safer among the ancient heathens, with whom the rites of hospitality were sacred.–They would have been considered guests of the public, and the religion of the country would have operated in their favor. But our frontier people call themselves Christians! …They would have been safer, though they had been taken in actual war against the Saracens, if they had once drank water with them. These were not taken in war against us, and have drank with us, and we with them, for fourscore years. …These were not enemies; they were born among us, and yet we have killed them all. …In short it appears, that they would have been safe in any part of the known world,–except in the neighbourhood of the CHRISTIAN WHITE SAVAGES of Peckstang and Donegall!” -Benjamin Franklin, A Narrative of the Late Massacres, in Lancaster County, of a Number of Indians, Friends of this Province, By Persons Unknown. (1764)

Isn’t this site against empiricism tho? “The Declaration of Independence” is filled with just that. Thomas Jefferson, the main author of “the Declaration of Independence”, even declared himself to be a ‘materialist’ and may have thought Jesus to be one himself.

Also, I should note that George Washington has been often compared to Moses. Looking at the history of the United States, he pretty much is the Moses of his generation; and the Revolutionary War was hardly a revolution.

I’d say that the founding fathers of America certainly had many flaws, including being anti-Monarchist, and believing that a written document, the constitution, could rule better than a personality. However, that quote is certainly a shot from the past that pierces any ideological armor a rightist might adorn. It is a great quote!

Moreover, I thought Aryanists would naturally have their sympathies with the English monarchy rather than supposedly freedom-loving masonic revolutionaries, especially since there are some reasons to consider American Revolution as a counter-revolution in the interest of slave owners and big land capitalists speculators interested in appropriating Indian lands in the west.

“It’s a good quote itself, but, unfortunately, belongs to a flawed a document.”

We openly admit that we may disagree with Hitler in some cases and only selectively quote the things which we agree most strongly with from explicitly National Socialist authors like Savitri Devi, Serrano, etc.

So why should I be afraid of selectively quoting the good parts from the Declaration of Independence? One of my primary goals is to restore a positive view of America in the eyes of American leftists. Mainstream liberals reject American history due to all of the Western atrocities like slavery, ethnic cleansing, sexism, etc. And then more politically-astute people such as yourself go further and reject Jefferson and others not even on the basis of slavery and whatnot, but because of their (flawed) philosophical beliefs!

Meanwhile, rightists have no qualms (and don’t care about the fine points of philosophy)… Indeed, they are openly proud of the parts of US history which leftists are most ashamed of. This results in rightists having a monopoly on American history and means they can decide what ‘American culture’ means through their propaganda (since they have 0 opposition in this realm).

This is unacceptable, and therefore Americans must do all that they can to not only highlight positivity from America’s past, but also to take away influential individuals and texts from the right. This quote from the Declaration of Independence not only provides positivity, but now prevents rightists from lazily citing this document as unequivocal support of their conception of America!!! Jefferson and many other early American authors had tons of flaws which we do not want to see resurrected in a future America, but we absolutely cannot let the right claim them as heroes when their writings contain so many sentiments contrary to what rightism promotes.

If Jefferson’s own words can undermine rightists’ praise for Jefferson, we would be fools not to fight fire with fire and let Jefferson speak for himself against rightism!

“But this letter being unofficial, and private, I may with safety give you a more extensive view of our policy respecting the Indians, that you may better comprehend the parts dealt out to you in detail through the official channel, and observing the system of which they make a part, conduct yourself in unison with it in cases where you are obliged to act without instruction. The system is to live in perpetual peace with the Indians, to cultivate an affectionate attachment from them, by every thing just & liberal which we can offer them within the bounds of reason, and by giving them effectual protection against wrongs from our own people. The decrease of game rendering their subsistence by hunting insufficient, we wish to draw them to agriculture, to spinning and weaving. …At our trading houses too we mean to sell so low as merely to repay cost and charges so as neither to lessen or enlarge our capital. This is what private traders cannot do, for they must gain; they will consequently retire from the competition, and we shall thus get clear of this pest without giving offence or umbrage to the Indians. In this way our settlements will gradually circumscribe and approach the Indians, and they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens of the United States or remove beyond the Mississippi. The former is certainly the termination of their history most happy for themselves. But in the whole course of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to shut our hand to crush them, and that all our liberalities to them proceed from motives of pure humanity only. Should any tribe be fool-hardy enough to take up the hatchet at any time, the seizing the whole country of that tribe and driving them across the Mississippi, as the only condition of peace, would be an example to others, and a furtherance of our final consolidation.
…I have given you this view of the system which we suppose will best promote the interests of the Indians and of ourselves, and finally consolidate our whole country into one nation only, that you may be enabled the better to adapt your means to the object.” -Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Henry Harrison, February 27, 1803.

“Let me intreat you therefore on the lands now given you, to begin to give every man a farm, let him inclose it, cultivate it, build a warm house on it, and when he dies let it belong to his wife and children after him. Nothing is so easy as to learn to cultivate the earth. All your women understand it, and to make it easier we are always ready to teach you how to make ploughs, hoes and other necessary utensils. …[Y]our children will never be tempted to sell the spot on which they have been born, raised, have laboured and called their own. …You will unite yourselves with us, join in our great Councils and form one people with us and we shall all be Americans, you will mix with us by marriage, your blood will run in our veins, and will spread with us over this great Island.” -Thomas Jefferson to Hendrick Aupaumut, December 21, 1808.

“You know, my friend, the benevolent plan we were pursuing here for the happiness of the aboriginal inhabitants in our vicinities. We spared nothing to keep them at peace with one another. To teach them agriculture and the rudiments of the most necessary arts, and to encourage industry by establishing among them separate property. In this way they would have been enabled to subsist and multiply on a moderate scale of landed possession. They would have mixed their blood with ours, and been amalgamated and identified with us within no distant period of time. On the commencement of our present war, we pressed on them the observance of peace and neutrality, but the interested and unprincipled policy of England has defeated all our labors for the salvation of these unfortunate people. …The confirmed brutalization, if not the extermination of this race in our America, is therefore to form an additional chapter in the English history of the same colored man in Asia, and of the brethren of their own color in Ireland, and wherever else Anglo-mercantile cupidity can find a two-penny interest in deluging the earth with human blood. But let us turn from the loathsome contemplation of the degrading effects of commercial avarice.” -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813.

How many rightist websites do you think praise the quotes above? …And how many leftist and anti-racist websites? (Probably close to 0, since leftists have become so cynical towards American history and prominent figures such as Jefferson!!!)

“Revolutionary War was hardly a revolution”

Whether we like it or not, erecting the world’s first democratic government based on “Enlightenment” principles is pretty revolutionary. Revolutionary does not automatically mean good or noble. It is up to us to reframe the Revolutionary War by offering a new, more positive, perspective: the true Revolution was separating American Civilization from Western Civilization (and this revolution remains sadly unfinished). From this perspective, we can see that by founding a democratic system based on Western “Enlightenment” ideology, America, if anything, fell further under the hegemony of Western Civilization despite achieving nominal independence from Britain.